The Spanish have been voted Europe’s “funniest nationality” and the world’s second funniest, in a global poll to find the nationality “best at making people laugh”.

Americans are named the world’s funniest nationality and the Germans the “least funny”. The Spanish – the nation of Cervantes and Almodóvar – are named the funniest Europeans, ahead of the Italians, French and British.

30,000 people across 15 countries were asked to name both the “funniest” and “least funny” nationality in a poll conducted by Badoo.com (www.badoo.com), the world’s largest social network for meeting new people, with 119m users worldwide.

“When we meet someone new, often one of the first things we notice is whether they make us laugh”, says Lloyd Price, Badoo’s Director of Marketing. “Sometimes, it’s the most important thing. The Spanish are better than almost anyone at making people laugh.”

Spain might have flopped at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest but the Badoo poll is just its latest international success. “First the World Cup, then the Champions League, now this”, says Price.

The Americans were named the world’s funniest nationality, as the folks who brought us not just sitcoms like Friends and The Simpsons, but any number of comic greats from the Marx Brothers to Woody Allen, Steve Martin, Ben Stiller, or now Tina Fey.

We Spanish, however, have a far older comic tradition, dating back at least to Don Quixote, perhaps the greatest comic novel ever written.

In more recent years, our comic tradition includes the likes of Andrés Buenafuente and Eva H, the absurd humour of Faemino y Cansado and the sketches of Cruz y Raya.

In fact, we are particularly good at producing comic double-acts and trios. Other examples include Martes Y Trece, with their caricatures of the famous; or, Tip y Coll or Los Tonechos, with their surreal comedy.

In film, we have given the world Torrente, with its lavatorial and sexual humour, while Almodóvar’s 1988 black comedy, “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” is still considered one of the great film comedies of recent years.

Part of the appeal of our humour may be due to the fact the Spanish are less restrained by what the British call “political correctness” and less worried than northern Europeans about joking about sexual topics.

Like most things in Spain, of course, humour differs according to the region.

The most popular form of comedy on national TV, however, is probably satire and mocking the powerful, while the greatest comic talent of Spaniards in general is perhaps the creative insult. There are more and funnier ways of insulting someone in Spanish than in almost any other language.

It was, however, the great British poet, WH Auden, who best expressed the importance of humour, when he observed: “Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.”

Badoo asked users the following two questions:

Q. Which nationality – excluding your own – do you feel is the funniest and/or best at making people laugh?

The 10 Highest Ranked Nationalities:

Rank

Nationality

1.

American

2.

Spanish

3.

Italian

4.

Brazilian

5.

French

6.

Mexican

7.

British

8.=

Dutch

8.=

Russian

10.

Belgian

Note: 2,000 Badoo users from each of 15 nationalities were asked to pick from a list of 15 nationalities. Other nationalities in the list from which respondents picked were: German, Polish, Argentinian, Canadian and Turkish.

Source: Badoo Internal Data, 30,000 users in April/May 2011 Survey

Q. Which nationality do you feel is the LEAST funny and/or good at making people laugh?

Top Three Highest Ranked Nationalities:

Rank

Nationality

1.

German

2.

Russian

3.

Turkish

Note: 2,000 respondents from each of 15 nationalities were asked to pick from a list of 15 nationalities. Other nationalities in the list from which Badoo users picked were Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, Mexican, Argentinian, Canadian, Belgian, Dutch and Polish.